In one of their most embarrassing special-teams gaffes, the Packers allowed offensive lineman Dan Connolly to gain 71 yards on a kickoff return.

Short-yardage plays, special teams and penalties play big parts in losses

The Packers’ chances for a division title are gone, but they still control their fate in regard to a wild-card berth. If the Packers win their final two games, vs. the N.Y. Giants and Chicago, both at home, they will secure at least the No. 2 wild-card berth.

Green Bay — One glance at the box score from the Green Bay Packers-New England Patriots game confirms the adage about statistics being meaningless.

Going strictly by the numbers, the Packers outplayed the Patriots.

They piled up more first downs (26-14) and total yards (369-249), were more efficient on third down (58%-40%), ran nearly twice as many plays (80-43) and had a huge edge in time of possession, keeping the ball for 40 minutes 48 seconds compared with the Patriots' 19:12.

They also held Tom Brady to 163 passing yards and the dangerous trio of Wes Welker, Deion Branch and Danny Woodhead to a combined six catches for 87 yards.

So how in the world did the Packers lose, 31-27, at Gillette Stadium on Sunday night?

The same way they lost their other five games this season: by failing to convert in critical short-yardage situations, by committing costly penalties and by making game-changing blunders on special teams.

Those shortcomings have become a season-long trend and if the Packers (8-6) don't make the playoffs they can blame their postseason blues on those three problem areas.

Matt Flynn played well in his first NFL start, but he did make the biggest mistake a quarterback can make, throwing an interception that was returned for a touchdown. Still, if not for the Packers' frustrating inability to convert in short yardage and a crushing-blow kick return by a 313-pound offensive guard, the outcome likely would have been different.

At the start of the fourth quarter, the Packers had a 24-21 lead and a first-and-goal on the Patriots' 2-yard line.

John Kuhn ran for 1 yard on first down, and the Packers then ran the identical play on second down. This time, Kuhn ran into a wall of defenders and was stopped for no gain. On third down, Flynn threw incomplete and the Packers had to settle for Mason Crosby's 19-yard field goal.

"We had other plays we could have gone to, but the execution is really the key, not the play-calling," said offensive coordinator Joe Philbin. "So I give (the Patriots) credit. They executed better and kept us out of the end zone."

It's not the first time this season that the Packers failed to score a touchdown on first-and-goal from the 2. They were in the same down-and-distance situation in Atlanta on Nov. 28.

With the score tied, 3-3, in the second quarter, Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers threw incomplete on first down and rushed for 1 yard on second down. He kept again on third-and-1 and fumbled into the end zone. The Falcons recovered for a touchback, went down the field and scored a touchdown and were on their way to a 20-17 victory.

Green Bay's problem in short-yardage is illustrated by its fourth-down conversion rate of 38.4% (5 for 13).

Perhaps the Packers' biggest problem, however, is their propensity to make the forehead-slapping gaffe on special teams.

On Sunday, they had just extended their lead to 17-7 over the Patriots on Flynn's 1-yard touchdown pass to Greg Jennings with 2 minutes 20 seconds left in the second quarter.

On the ensuing kickoff, Patriots 313-pound guard Dan Connolly caught Mason Crosby's squib kick on one bounce on the 25-yard line, veered to his left and ran through a hole untouched after the Packers' Quinn Johnson collided with teammate Diyral Briggs.

Charlie Peprah had a chance to tackle Connolly along the sideline but instead tried to strip the ball; Connolly shook him off and rumbled all the way to the 4-yard line.

"That's an unpredictable ball and (Connolly) did a good job catching it," said special teams coordinator Shawn Slocum. "But we should have tackled him right away. We shouldn't be sitting here talking about this."

Every team makes an occasional mistake on special teams but with the Packers it's been a disturbing pattern.

In Chicago on Sept. 27, Devin Hester returned Tim Masthay's line-drive punt 62 yards for a touchdown early in the fourth quarter to give the Bears a 14-10 lead in a game they would go on to win, 20-17.

Two weeks later, at Washington, Mason Crosby's 53-yard field goal attempt with 1 second left in regulation clanked off the left upright and the game went into overtime tied, 13-13. The Redskins won, 16-13.

On Oct. 17, against Miami at Lambeau Field, Robert Francois lined up illegally over the center on a punt midway through the fourth quarter. The penalty gave the Dolphins a first down on the Packers' 38 and they went on to score a touchdown and take a 20-13 lead en route to a 23-20 victory in overtime.

Fast forward to Atlanta again. The Packers put together a brilliant 16-play, 90-yard touchdown drive to tie the score, 17-17, with 1:06 remaining.

Unfortunately, Eric Weems returned the ensuing kickoff 40 yards and the Falcons got 15 more when Matt Wilhelm grabbed Weems' facemask at the end of the run. So that was a special teams breakdown and a penalty.

Atlanta started on Green Bay's 49, drove 20 yards in five plays and Matt Bryant kicked a 47-yard game-winning field goal with 13 seconds left.

The Packers have lost their six games by a total of 20 points, so it's fair to say the short-yardage failures, penalties and special teams gaffes have cost them a chance to have a much better record than 8-6.

"Football is a game of ups and downs and if you have more ups than you have downs you generally win," Slocum said. "The downs are the things that are frustrating because you don't plan those."